Tracking Hasan Elahi : Self-imposed surveillance : trackingtransience

Hasan Elahi is a Bangladesh-Born New Jersey artist & art professor. He was detained by the FBI and interviewed about every detail of his life. He now developed a web site to track every move of his life, for FBI or anyone else who might be interested. He hacked his cell phone and links it to his web page. Now his webpage show his where about in a GPS supported map. He is also posting photos of what he is seeing, eating and so on as alibi. He is logging every dollars he is spending and where. He turned around the whole situation, at least as it appears now. His biggest shortcoming is now his biggest asset as an artist. Very brilliant, good job!


-x86

=====================================
In the News:

CNN's Kiran Chetry talks to a man who developed software to track his
every move to prove he's not a terrorist. (May 30)

Video Link: http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/tech/2007/05/30/gps.on.line.alibi.elahi.cnn

ABC News reports:

Artist combats FBI profile by creating online alibi
Rebecca Lee
(5/30/07) - When the FBI started to track to every move of artist Hasan Elahi, he responded by giving his personal information to the whole world.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, Elahi, like many minorities across the United States was flagged as a potential terrorist.

The Bangladesh-born, Brooklyn, NY-raised media artist often travels overseas for work, and with his Arab-sounding name and dark skin, Elahi found himself the subject of an FBI interrogation in June 2002.

He was detained and interrogated by airport and government officials while on his way back from a business trip in Dakar, Senegal.

Although he was cleared to enter the country, Elahi's travel nightmare was far from over. From June 2002 until December 2002, he was the subject of an ongoing U.S. government investigation, which included intense questioning, lie-detector tests and documentation of his every move.

"For six months, I had to justify every second my existence, proving to the FBI that I was not a terrorist or a terrorist threat of any kind," Elahi told ABC News. "So, after having to recount every detail of my life to the micro level, I said to myself, 'Why don't I just do this myself?'"

Elahi's experiment started slowly. He initially recorded his coordinates every couple of hours via a cell phone he had implanted with GPS software as a way of keeping the FBI informed of his whereabouts.

He then posted the information on his Web site, www.trackingtransience.net, and created a documentary art exhibition, "Tracking Transience: The Orwell Project," to make all his personal information, from his current location to his bank statements and telephone records available to the public.

"If you think about it, intelligence agencies are all based on the commodity of information and secrecy," said Elahi. "So, I started thinking & what if I just volunteer my information? What that does is make my FBI profile useless because everything you would want to know, now you can just come to me and cut out the middleman. I've basically become my own Big Brother."

'Everything's Out There'

In the past few years, Elahi's site has expanded, thanks in part to technological advances but also as a result of his dedication to this project.

"It's hard to say when this art project started, because it was a very organic process," he said. "It started out as just an image on a computer screen, then a map, then a little more detailed map, and now it's completely full blown to the point where you can dig out any little detail about my life. Everything's out there."

But there are some pieces of information he's keeping private. While Elahi photographs his meals and surroundings, his self-surveillance is not completely without bias.

Like any art project, the artist has the ability to shape the online profile he is creating of himself and does not include his own photo or images of his friends. From the pictures he chooses to post, to the locations he chooses to record, Elahi's "Tracking Transience" is really a reflection of how he would like to be defined.

"By taking matters into my own hands, I decided that I'm going to define myself based on my own information, not based on what someone else thinks I might be and this is really the center of this project. It's really all about identity management," explained Elahi.

Yet, he points out, the places you visit and the things you buy and eat, even when "managed," only show us a certain portion of a person's true self. "When you stitch together all this information you really know everything and nothing about me, because nowhere is my name, nowhere is my face, nowhere is there one actual thing that identifies me," said Elahi.

Ultimately, Elahi hopes his documentary experiment will serve a dual purpose. By keeping track of his records and whereabouts, he hopes to avoid any further involvement with the U.S. government and, second, by supplying the public with all his information, he hopes that people will question the ways in which our society is being tracked and policed, often without our knowledge or our consent.

"I'm hoping to take this [project] to such a point of absurdity that someone somewhere out there realizes, 'Hey, this isn't right. We shouldn't be living in a society where we have to do this,'" Elahi explained. "I'm just hoping that people start questioning, because if we don't, people won't even realize that [this kind of tracking] is even happening."

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=sci_tech&id=5354459&ft=print

RE: Bangladesh parties oppose 33 percent women's quota

But it will not be possible to accommodate 33 percent female??
Why is this Mr. Jalil? Is it because we don’t have enough female in the country? Don’t we have enough educated female in the country? Can you show some data to support it? What the hell is Mahila League is doing? Who are those women?

"But taking part in field-level programmes and leading an organisation at different tiers are not the same thing". Hmmm.. really? Why not, why not. Let’s look at one interesting data, shall we?

Among many other gang-star and top corrupt, these are few known faces who won Mr. Jalil’s party nomination last canceled election:

Narayanganj-4 Shamim Osman
Feni-2 Khodeza Begum (sister of Joynal Hazari)
Barisal-1 Abul Hasnat Abdullah
Dhaka-8 Haji Mohammad Selim
Chandpur-2 Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya
Chittagong-12 Aktaruzzaman Babu and

We have not seen them in the street, in the public, or in the news conference over last 5 years. Why is that? Were they sick, or they are too shy? No, not really. They were in hiding, running from the law. All of a sudden, they pop up just in time before election, just at the time of nomination submission. And voiala, they win a party ticket!

Too bad, election was canceled. Guess what? Right after election was canceled, they were no where in the horizon. Why is that? They have some important work to do? Their hidden girl friend call to report back. Ohh no no no. They went to hiding because, police were looking for them. They are once again running from the law.

Now how did they won a party ticket? That’s a great mistry. What was the reason one of our begams (I call begam the lesser, but you can call begam the greater if you like) handed out these folks a party nomination?

So yes, “taking part in field-level programmes” is okay for women. But want to “lead an organisation at different tiers”, we need a gang lord, no kidding. Now women being gang lord to get a party ticket or party position, ha ha ha, even the most feminist won’t dream to claim that.

-x86

==============================
::In the news::
Bangladesh parties oppose 33 percent women's quota
Posted May 23rd, 2007 by TariqueMuslim World News By IANS

Dhaka : The two main political parties of Bangladesh have disapproved of the Election Commission's proposal to reserve 33 percent of nominations for women in elections, despite both being headed by women who have ruled the country.

The country's oldest political party the Awami League, headed by Sheikh Hasina, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Begum Khaleda Zia, expressed their reservations about the proposal, which the Election Commission and the interim government want to implement as part of electoral reforms.

Besides Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia, the two former prime ministers around whose rivalry Bangladesh's politics has revolved since the 1980s, the country has always had a plethora of women in public life. Their role has been relatively better than other South Asian countries, political analysts say.

Another cause of unhappiness is the electoral body's proposal to ban political parties from having youth or student fronts. Both the parties traditionally draw their cadres from these fronts.

"We generally support most of the commission's proposals to bring reforms in political parties. But it will not be possible to accommodate 33 percent female representatives in each and every committee," Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil was quoted as saying by the New Age newspaper.

Jalil drew a line between women's participation in political activities and their being nominated to contest elections. He argued that the commission might have put forth such a proposal considering the participation of women leaders and activists in street demonstrations.

"But taking part in field-level programmes and leading an organisation at different tiers are not the same thing," he remarked.

Sheikh Hasina has led the Awami League from the front since 1981 and electoral reforms have been high on her political agenda.

M.K. Anwar, vice president of BNP, linked the women's issue to the country's culture and to the urban-rural divide wherein, according to him, rural women do not participate in political activities.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh too found the commission's proposal "unrealistic". Its general secretary, Mujahidul Islam Selim, said the spirit of incorporating women in different committees is appropriate. "But the proposed percentage is unrealistic."

On the idea of banning student fronts, a former student leader pointed out to the role played by youth groups in national movements and said the ban was unreasonable.

"The student community played a pioneering role in different national movements and the initiative taken by a quarter of the interim government (to control student politics) is illogical," said Sultan Mansur, a former vice-president of the Dhaka University Central Students Union (DUCSU).

"Student politics will survive by its own strength and the students will not bow to any external pressure," he said.

Source:
http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/may/23/
bangladesh_parties_oppose_33_percent_womens_quota.html

Banglasesh: Local scientists develop diarrhoea vaccine

Local scientists develop diarrhoea vaccine
Staff Correspondent

Scientists in Bangladesh have developed a vaccine that can prevent diarrhoea caused by commonly found micro-organisms.

Experts described the achievement as a breakthrough in medical science as the vaccine will provide immunity from two most deadly and common bacteria--Vibrio cholerae and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC).


These two bacteria cause about 55 percent diarrhoeal cases in the country, experts said at a press conference yesterday morning at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre at Agargaon in the capital.


Healthcare Pharmaceutical Ltd and SBL Vaccines of Sweden jointly organised the press conference.


Describing the launching of the vaccine as a milestone event, the experts said researches since 1985 reveal that once taken the vaccine acts as a shield for the body against any further attack of the two bacteria at least for two years.


In 1985, scientists of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh, (ICDDR,B) began testing the safety and efficacy of the vaccine at the institute's Dhaka hospital popularly known as Cholera Hospital.


ICDDR,B senior scientists Dr Firdousi Qadri, Dr Mohammad Yunus, Dr Abdus Salam, and Executive Director Dr David A Sack conducted the successful trials. Based on the results of their trials, the vaccine is now registered in over 50 countries. The vaccine was registered in Bangladesh in 2006.


The availability of the vaccine brand-named "Dukoral" may eventually save greater number of lives of especially children, the most common victims of the water-borne diseases, researchers said.


Already approved by the World Health Organisation and the country's Drug Administration, the vaccine is now popular among travellers as it prevents even the most severe attacks of the water-borne diseases.


Bangladesh is the only South Asian country where the vaccine has been registered as a therapeutic product.


The vaccine--to be taken in two doses 14 days apart--stops toxic agents released by attacking germs from entering intestine cells and thus averting diarrhoea trigger.


Dr Sack said, "I view the launching of the vaccine as an important event since it is being introduced for the first time in Bangladesh.


"Although its price is high, I am sure one day the vaccine will be within the reach of the general population like the oral saline," he added.


The vaccine, manufactured by Swedish pharmaceutical company SBL Vaccines, will be available only at approved vaccination centres across the country and one cycle or two doses will cost Tk 2,400. It must be preserved at 2-8 degrees Celsius temperature.


The vaccine is presently recommended for adults and children over two years of age. Recent studies in Bangladesh among infants and younger children show that the vaccine is safe and effective.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/04/13/d70413012214.htm

Noam Chomsky: The problem lies in the unwillingness to recognize that your own terrorism is terrorism

‘The problem lies in the unwillingness to recognize that your own terrorism is terrorism'
Noam Chomsky interviewed by Saad Sayeed
Excalibur Online, October 25, 2006

Known in academic circles for his contribution to the field of linguistics, MIT professor Noam Chomsky is widely recognized as one of the most influential political dissidents of our time. In this interview, Chomsky talks about the roots of terrorism and the role of the intellectual in society.
"The problem lies in the unwillingness to recognise that your own terrorism is terrorism"
Excalibur (Ex): How important is an understanding of the role of states such as the U.S. and the U.K. when examining the question of terrorism?
Chomsky (Ch): It depends on whether we want to be honest and truthful or whether we want to just serve state power ( . . . ) We should look at all forms of terrorism.
I have been writing on terrorism for 25 years, ever since the Reagan administration came in 1981 and declared that the leading focus of its foreign policy was going to be a war on terror. A war against state directed terrorism which they called the plague of the modern world because of their barbarism and so on. That was the centre of their foreign policy and ever since I have been writing about terrorism.
But what I write causes extreme anger for the very simple reason that I use the U.S. government's official definition of terrorism from the official U.S. code of laws. If you use that definition, it follows very quickly that the U.S. is the leading terrorist state and a major sponsor of terrorism and since that conclusion is unacceptable, it arouses furious anger. But the problem lies in the unwillingness to recognize that your own terrorism is terrorism. This is not just true of the United States, it's true quite generally. Terrorism is something that they do to us. In both cases, it's terrorism and we have to get over that if we're serious about the question.
Ex: In 1979, Russia invades Afghanistan. The U.S. uses the Ziaul Haq regime in Pakistan to fund the rise of militancy. This gives Zia a green light to fund cross-border terrorism in Kashmir. Now we allegedly have some of those elements setting off bombs in Mumbai. Clearly, these groups are no longer controlled by any government.
Ch: The jihadi movements in their modern form go back before Afghanistan. They were formed primarily in Egypt in the 1970s. Those are the roots of the jihadi movement, the intellectual roots and the activist roots and the terrorism too.
But when the Russians invaded Afghanistan, the Regan administration saw it as an opportunity to pursue their Cold War aims. So they did with the intense cooperation of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and others ( . . . ) so the Reagan administration organized the most radical Islamic extremists it could find anywhere in the world and brought them to Afghanistan to train them, arm them.
Meanwhile, the U.S. supported Ziaul Haq as he was turning Pakistan into a country full of madrassahs and fundamentalists. The Reagan administration even ( . . . ) kept certifying to Congress that Pakistan was not developing nuclear weapons, which of course they were, so that U.S. aid to Pakistan could continue. The end result of these U.S. programs was to seriously harm Pakistan and also to create the international jihadi movement, of which Osama bin Laden is a product. The jihadi movement then spread ( . . . ) they may not like it much but they created it. And now, as you say, it's in Kashmir.
Kashmir, though, is a much more complex story. There are plenty of problems in Kashmir and they go way back, but the major current conflicts come from the 1980s. In 1986, when India blocked the election, it actually stole the election, and that led to an uprising and terrorist violence and atrocities, including atrocities committed by the Indian army.
Ex: The colonial legacy is generally dismissed by the media. What role does this legacy play in the emergence of home-grown terrorists in countries such as the U.S., the U.K. and Canada as well as to the creation of terrorism as a whole?
Ch: It's not brought up in the West because it's inconvenient to think about your own crimes. Just look at the major conflicts going on around the world today, in Africa, the Middle East, in South Asia, most of them are residues of colonial systems.
Colonial systems imposed and created artificial states that had nothing to do with the needs and concerns and relations of the populations involved. They were created in the interests of colonial powers and as old fashioned colonialism turned into modern neo-colonialism, a lot of these conflicts erupted into violence and those are a lot of the atrocities happening in the world today.
How can anyone say colonialism isn't relevant? Of course it is and it's even more directly relevant.
Take the London bombing in 2005. Blair tried to pretend that it had nothing to do with Britain's participation in the invasion of Iraq. That's completely ridiculous. The British intelligence and the reports of the people connected in the bombing, they said that the British participation in the invasion and resulting horrors in Iraq inflamed them and they wanted to do something in reaction.
Ex: What is the role of the intellectual when dealing with imperialism and are the intellectuals doing they job?
Ch: Unfortunately, intellectuals are doing their historic job. The historic role of intellectuals if you look, unfortunately, as far back as you go has been to support power systems and to justify their atrocities. So the article you read in the National Post for the production of vulgar Stalinist connoisseurs, that's what intellectuals usually do as far back as you go.
If you go back to the Bible, there's a category of people who were called prophets, a translation of an obscure word, they were intellectuals, they were what we would call dissident intellectuals; criticising the evil king, giving geopolitical analysis, calling for the moral treatment of orphans, decent behaviour. They were dissident intellectuals. Were they treated well? They were prisoned and driven into the dessert and so on, they were the fringe. The people who were treated well were the ones who centuries later, like in the gospel, were called false prophets. So it goes through history. The actual role of the intellectual has been supportive of power.
Should they do that? Of course not; they should be searching for truth, they should be honest, they should be supporting freedom and justice and there are some who do it. There is a fringe who do it, but they're not treated well. They are performing the task that intellectuals ought to perform.
Ex: And what keeps you motivated?
Ch: I'll just tell you a brief story. I was in Beirut a couple of months ago giving talks at the American university in the city. After a talk, people come up and they want to talk privately or have books signed.
Here I was giving a talk in a downtown theatre, a large group of people were around and a young woman came up to me, in her mid-'20s, and just said this sentence: "I am Kinda" and practically collapsed. You wouldn't know who Kinda is but that's because we live in societies where the truth is kept hidden. I knew who she was. She had a book of mine open to a page on which I had quoted a letter of hers that she wrote when she was seven years old.
It was right after the U.S. bombing of Libya, her family was then living in Libya, and she wrote a letter which was found by a journalist friend of mine who tried to get it published in the United States but couldn't because no one would publish it. He then gave it to me, I published it. The letter said something like this:
"Dear Mr Reagan, I am seven years old. I want to know why you killed my little sister and my friend and my rag doll. Is it because we are Palestinians? Kinda". That's one of the most moving letters I have ever seen and when she walked up to me and said I am Kinda, and, like I say, actually fell over, not only because of the event but because of what it means.
Here's the United States with no pretext at all, bombing another country, killing and destroying, and nobody wants to know what a little seven-year-old girl wrote about the atrocities. That's the kind of thing that keeps me motivated and ought to keep everybody motivated. And you can multiply that by 10,000.

FW: Bangladesh honors Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus

International Herald Tribune
November 5, 2006

Bangladesh honors Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus

The Associated Press
Bangladesh honored Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus at a ceremony Sunday hosted by the country's president and interim leader Iajuddin Ahmed.

Yunus and his Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel prize on Oct. 13 for their efforts to lift millions out of poverty. Yunus' idea, known as microcredit, has helped hundreds of millions of people worldwide by handing out small loans to start their own businesses.

Ahmed presented Yunus with an inscribed silver plate and a citation at the Bangabhaban, the presidential palace in the capital, Dhaka.

"Yunus and the Grameen Bank founded by him have brought honor to Bangladesh. As Bangladeshis, we are very proud and delighted," Ahmed said.

The televised ceremony was attended by politicians and prominent citizens.

"This honor is not only for me, but for Grameen Bank, its millions of borrowers and young workers, for all Bangladeshis," Yunus said.

Yunus said the microcredit system challenged the conventional banking system, which "only lends to those who already have plenty."

"Grameen showed that it is possible to lend to those who have nothing — about two-thirds of the world's population. We give loans to the poor, to women ... without collateral or legal documents. We showed that an institution can run on trust," Yunus said.

Ahmed said the Nobel prize opened "a new era for Bangladesh."

"In their citation, the Nobel committee said if the majority cannot come out of poverty, peace cannot prevail. His microcredit concept has won worldwide recognition, and will help to establish a poverty-free world, I believe," Ahmed said.

In Bangladesh, the Grameen Bank provides services in more than 70,000 villages and has loaned US$5.72 billion (€4.56 billion) to 6.7 million Bangladeshis — 97 percent of them women — over the past three decades.